Pole tents and frame tents are generally used for large commercial or personal events. By way of non-limiting examples, such events could be outdoor parties, outdoor receptions, commercial tent sales (such as for automobiles) or the like. Pole tents and frame tents are not typically used for overnight camping purposes. Pole tents and frame tents differ typically from camping tents because the floor, wall and roof are not one contiguous fabric. Rather such tents are used as structures to support a flexible roof to cover groups of persons, including hundreds of persons or more.
Pole tents and frame tents come in a variety of sizes, but generally have rectangular footprints. That is, the width at one end of a commercially available pole or frame tent will be substantially equal to the width at the other end.
Referring to prior art FIG. 1, perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of the inside of a typical prior art pole tent 10 is shown. Pole tents, like pole tent 10, use center poles 12 located at the center of the tent 10 and side poles 14 located at the perimeter of the tent 10 to support a flexible tent roof 16.
A pole tent 10 is secured and supported by driving stakes 18 into the ground and using tensioned cables 20 (or guy-lines) to tie the side poles 14 to the stakes 18. In a pole tent 10, all of the tension on the tent roof 16 is maintained by the stakes 18. As such, a pole tent 10 is not generally suitable to be installed over concrete or asphalt unless properly anchored with concrete anchors or the like.
Referring to prior art FIG. 2, perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of a prior art frame tent 30 is shown. Frame tents, like frame tent 30, use a frame 32 (or frame work) to maintain tension on the roof 34 of the frame tent 30. The frame 32 is constructed of interconnecting frame poles 36 that are typically composed of aluminum tubing. Side poles 38 elevate and support the frame 32 and roof 34 off of the ground.
The frame 32 of a frame tent 30 does not require stakes to keep the roof in tension, therefore allowing more flexibility in placement than a pole tent. However, even though the frame tent 32 has free standing characteristics, tensioned cables 40 are still used to secure the tent 30 to stakes 42 when the frame tent is located outside. When located inside a building, staking or anchoring the frame tent 30 is not required.
Referring to FIGS. 3A and 3B, a top view (FIG. 3A) and a side view (FIG. 3B) of an exemplary embodiment of prior art pole tents 50 and 60 of different sizes are shown. The pole tents 50, 60 represent two different sized tents, but both have the rectangular footprint that is typical of commercially available pole tents. That is, the width 52 of pole tent 50 at one tent end 54 is substantially equal to the width 52 at the other tent end 56. Additionally, the width 62 of the pole tent 60 at one tent end 64 is also substantially equal to the width 62 at the other end 66. Though this example used pole tents 50, 60, frame tents could have also been used in this example, since frame tent footprints are also typically rectangular in shape.
Often times, however, there is a requirement for tents to cover areas with non-rectangular, or irregular, shapes. Under such conditions, different sized rectangular shaped tents, like tents 50 and 60, are used to cover the irregular shaped surface areas.
Disadvantageously, though, using multiple tents can be more expensive and take longer to construct than a single tent system. Further, the multiple tents can obstruct the view from one tent to another. Additionally, the rectangular footprints of the tents do not always fit well over the irregular shaped surface they need to cover. Finally, since each tent is separate, the area between the tents is prone to leaks.
Accordingly, there is a need for a tent system that includes variable transition sections. The transition sections would enable tent sections of different widths and height to be connected together under a single roof to form a tent system that has a non-rectangular shape. The irregularly shaped tent system could conform more closely to an irregularly shaped surface area than multiple rectangular shaped tents could. Additionally, there would be less obstruction of view in such an irregularly shaped tent system than that of multiple rectangular shaped tents.